Nepalis vote for stability in historic polls

Nepalis across the country’s mountainous north voted on Sunday in elections that could herald change after 20 ruinous years marked by a bloody Maoist insurgency, a devastating earthquake and crippling political instability.

The historic vote marks the final step of a drawn-out peace process, which began in 2006 with the end of the civil war between the Maoists and the state. More than two million people — around 65 percent of eligible voters — cast their ballot for representatives in new national and provincial parliaments.

The two-phase elections will establish the country’s first provincial Assemblies as laid out in a post-war constitution that aims to devolve power from the top-heavy Central governments to seven newly created provinces. Nepal’s tumultuous transition from monarchy to democracy has been marred by crippling instability that has seen 10 leaders hold power in 11 years, hampering development and recovery from the 2015 earthquake.